Mark Grace, in court Thursday, pleaded guilty to endangerment and DUI, avoiding what could have been a lengthy prison sentence.

Instead, a judge imposed a sentence that includes work-release jail time as well as three years of supervised probation. Additionally, an Interlock device must be installed in his vehicle for six months and he will need permission to travel out of state.

His work-release sentence begins Feb. 10.

Grace, a former Diamondbacks player and broadcaster, was charged with ...

• Asked if the Diamondbacks preferred grinding, gritty players

Towers replied, “That’s accurate. That’s the way [manager Kirk Gibson] played the game. That’s how we won in 2011, and Justin was part of that club.” Towers lauded Martin Prado as having that kind of mentality, grinding out at-bats and not striking out. He added, “Justin played hard every single day,” and “he cared, he’s a competitor.” But because he had a bit of a “swagger,” and because of his general body language, people might ...

A move by the Oakland Athletics to Hohokam Stadium is all but a done deal, thanks to action Thursday by the Mesa City Council.

The council approved a memorandum of understanding sketching the broad outlines of an agreement that will bring the A’s to Mesa for at least 20 years, with options for two five-year extensions.

Oakland conducted spring training in Mesa 1969-78 — an era whose legendary teams won consecutive World Series 1972-74.

“We think they’re sort of coming home,” Mayor ...

Eligible in 2013.

Jody Reed’s agent has been busy this winter.

Saunders agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal to rejoin the Diamondbacks’ rotation, a contract that’s not only for fewer years and dollars than Saunders expected on the open market but one that pushes the club’s payroll even further above its anticipated threshold.

“It’s a veteran who pitched well in the division on a division-winning team who can help lead (the pitching staff),” Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers said. “And it allows our ...

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

The postseason edition of trivia and oddbits that Jayson Stark excels at collecting and presenting…

Here’s one I didn’t know:

All four teams that advanced to the LCS—the Cardinals, Brewers, Rangers and Tigers—got outscored by the teams they played in the Division Series … and won.

Hitch your jalopying Kubelwagen to a future star!

Last year Kubel, a lefty, hit .273 with 12 homers and a .766 OPS in about 400 plate appearances.  Parra, also a lefty, hit .292 with 8 homers and a .784 OPS in just under 500 plate appearances.  Parra created 71 runs to 59 for Kubel.  Given the fewer plate appearances for Kubel, you can say offensively the two players were pretty even.  But it’s defense that made Parra a much better player than Kubel in 2011.  Parra saved an estimated 12 runs ...

Heyman says 2 years, $15 million. That is one expensive pinch hitter!

The D-backs have agreed to terms with free-agent outfielder Jason Kubel on a two-year contract with an option, a baseball source confirmed Monday.

The move is somewhat surprising in that the D-backs had not been linked in any rumors to Kubel, nor had they been rumored to be in the market for an outfielder.

Kubel, 29, hit .273 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Twins in 2011. He was originally drafted by Minnesota in the ...

A shocking transformation!

Jason Lane, who made six relief appearances when he wasn’t playing the outfield for Triple-A Las Vegas last season, will make a full-time move to the mound next season. The Diamondbacks have signed him to a minor league deal as a left-handed pitcher... He’ll play next year at 35, so it’s an awfully late conversion to the mound for the former USC Trojan. But his arm will certainly be fresh.

Overall, Lane is a .241/.314/.457 hitter with 61 homers in 1,208 ...

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Diamondbacks are “close” to acquiring right-hander Trevor Cahill from the A’s for multiple prospects, adding that right-hander Jarrod Parker and outfielder Collin Cowgill are “in play.”

However, Bob Nightengale of USA Today says Parker “is not in a potential deal” because Arizona plans to have him in the Opening Day rotation.

Top prospect Trevor Bauer isn’t eligible to be traded yet because he was the No. 3 overall pick in ...

1.Astros take Rhiner Cruz from Mets.
2.Twins take Terry Doyle from White Sox.
3.Mariners take Lucas Luetge from Brewers.
4.Orioles take Ryan Flaherty from Cubs.
5.Royals take Cesar Cabral from Red Sox; traded to Yankees for cash.
6.Cubs take Lendy Castillo from Phillies.
8.Pirates take Gustavo Nunez from Tigers.
  21.Braves take Robert Fish from Angels.
22.Cardinals take Erik Komatsu from Nationals.
23.Red Sox take Marwin Gonzalez from Cubs.
  25.Diamondbacks take Brett Lorin from ...

Corey Myers is going to be 32-years old.

1. Trevor Bauer, rhp
2. Archie Bradley, rhp
3. Tyler Skaggs, lhp
4. Jarrod Parker, rhp
5. Matt Davidson, 3b/1b
6. A.J. Pollock, of
7. David Holmberg, lhp
8. Chris Owings, ss
9. Wade Miley, lhp
10. Patrick Corbin, lhp

The Diamondbacks’ talent level also improved significantly on the minor league level in 2011, and they now boast one of the deepest pools of pitching talent. Skaggs is one of the best lefty pitching prospects in the game, and ...

The new series will follow the lives of five wives, ex-wives and girlfriends of professional Baseball players as they struggle to balance relationships, friendships and chaos. The Baseball Wives are: Anna Benson (wife of retired Arizona Diamondbacks’ Pitcher Kris Benson), Tanya Grace (ex-wife of retired Chicago Cubs’ First Baseman Mark Grace), Chantel Kendall (ex-wife of Kansas City Royals’ Jason Kendall), Brook Villone (wife of Ron Villone) and Jordana Lenz (linked to no particular ...

All those who chose to oppose his field must yield!

Among the nearly 3,000 athletes who participated in the 2011 Ford Ironman Arizona triathlon on Sunday in Tempe, Arizona was former Major League Baseball star Eric Brynes.  Byrnes is now an on air analyst for the MLB Network after 12 years in the big leagues with multiple MLB teams including the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Byrnes was no where close to being in Ironman shape only 11 months ago but now he’s an Ironman athlete who just finished ...

I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST READ!

“But he’s prepared for everything. He has the feel for the game, and he also takes all the sabermetrics and all that stuff and combines it into what he wants to have available.”

“You wouldn’t think it of ‘Gibby,’ but that’s part of his repertoire of a manager,” Williams said. “He has an idea of what he wants to do and has an idea of what the other club is going to do, and he reacts accordingly. I think it worked very well.”

...Mark ...

Kirk Gibson, who directed the Arizona Diamondbacks in a worst-to-first season as winners of the National League West title, was voted NL Manager of the Year in balloting by the BBWAA.

Gibson, 54, placed first on 28 ballots and second on the other four of the 32 ballots, submitted by two writers in each league city, to score 152 points, based on the 5-3-1 tabulation system. He was the only manager in either league this year to be named to every ballot.

Joe Maddon, who guided Tampa Bay from a ...

I’m assuming Dayton Moore just missed the cut.

3. Brian Cashman, Yankees (5 in ‘10, 6 in ‘09, NR in ‘08, 8 in ‘07) . It was a banner year for the Yankees’ baseball operations department, even if it didn’t end with a new banner to fly over Yankee Stadium.

(Sorry.)

After seeing their top target Lee bolt to Philadelphia, Cashman put his faith in the likes of Ivan Nova (whom he had refused to trade to Seattle for Lee in July of ‘10) and low-rent free agents Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. No ...

Can’t slick talk on the day of judgment
Your movement’s similar to a serpent

According to beat writer Nick Piecoro, the Arizona Diamondbacks have come to terms with second baseman Aaron Hill.

The deal is reportedly worth just over $10 million for two years and shores up the D-backs infield for 2012.

Selig gets and takes credit for the [minority interviewing and hiring] program, and I suppose he deserves it because he was the commissioner who implemented it, and he did it before the National Football League instituted a similar program, the Rooney Rule. ...

This off-season clubs created openings for six general managers and five managers. A total of seven members of minorities were interviewed. White male interviewees numbered at least three times that number.

Clubs don’t always ...

Japanese teams post a player through their commissioner’s office, which notifies its American counterpart to make an announcement to all 30 clubs. Interested teams have four days to submit a secret bid, known as the posting fee. If the highest bid is accepted, the team making it has 30 days to negotiate exclusively with the player. If no deal is reached, the posting fee is returned to the major league club and the player’s rights revert to his Japanese club.

The posting system was created to ...

Will WFB be going to California, or over the hills and far away?

Versatile infielder/outfielder Willie Bloomquist is drawing “a lot of interest” on the free agent market, agent Scott Boras said, adding that his client could land with a team that views him as more than a utility player.

But it’s a possibility that job won’t be with the Diamondbacks, and there is disagreement between the team and Boras as to who’s to blame for the communication breakdown that got them here.

A few days after ...

I'm not sure that the re-signing of a 40 year old backup catcher to a one year deal merits comment. In general that is.

First of all, Blanco played pretty well last year (.250/.330/.540 -- yes, Voros' Law applies of course. We are talking 112 plate appearances) and he's put up an 89 OPS+ over his last 616 plate appearances -- and was very good against the running game (46% ...

Interesting comments by Napoli on his time with the Angels, I don’t recall seeing anything about them when he made them

In August, Napoli told the Dallas Morning News he felt constrained by Scioscia’s high demands on his catchers.

“I always felt like I was looking over my shoulder to see if I was doing things right,” Napoli said. “I had ‘bad hands.’ I was so worried about my setup and the mechanics all the time. I learned a lot. I learned a lot of what I do there, but playing there just ...

A hysteria-inducing 3-2 win over the D-backs in Game 5 clinched the NL Division Series, a win-or-go-home game decided in the bottom of the 10 inning on Nyjer Morgan’s single after John Axford’s first blown save since mid-April.

Carlos Gomez, at second after a single and a stolen base, raced home on Morgan’s hit to give Milwaukee’s its first postseason series win in 29 years.

The NL Championship Series opponent still awaited as the Brewers celebrated with 44,028 deliriously towel-waving fans, ...